McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri named in bold Formula 1 prediction by Timo Glock

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Timo Glock believes Oscar Piastri can put himself in future Formula 1 world champion territory after the McLaren rookie scored his maiden podium at Sunday’s Japanese GP.

The 22-year-old drove a brilliant race to come home in P3 behind 2023 champion-elect Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. He also qualified in P2, ahead of his McLaren teammate in P3. Even though last weekend marked the first time that Piastri had ever driven around Suzuka.

Piastri had never visited Suzuka during his trophy-laden junior career but quickly got to grips with the technical circuit. He finished FP1 just 0.321 seconds off Norris’ best time before the Australian reduced the gap to 0.048s in FP3. Only 0.035s split the McLaren pair in qualifying.

Oscar Piastri took his maiden F1 podium at his first Japanese GP

A strong start on Sunday also let Piastri momentarily fight Verstappen for the race lead. The Melbourne native forced the Red Bull driver to charge across the track from pole position to protect the inside line. Piastri’s threat gave Norris room to sweep around the outside for P2.

Piastri remained in close proximity to Norris through the opening laps before pitting on L14. McLaren called the 2020 Formula 3 and 2021 Formula 2 champion into the box to switch to the hard compound tyres as the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) spell began for debris on the track.

An earlier stop let Piastri undercut Norris but the 23-year-old used his fresher tyres to regain P2 following his stop. Norris would ultimately eke out a 17.1-second margin to his teammate by the flag. Piastri’s pit stop under the VSC conditions meant he lacked the grip to challenge.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc could never quite get close enough to threaten Piastri for a podium position, though. So, McLaren saw their Formula 1 rookie take his first Grand Prix podium in only his 16th round. Piastri had also finished in P2 during the Belgian GP Sprint back in July.

What has Timo Glock said about the McLaren rookie’s future in F1?

A first Grand Prix podium at the Japanese GP is also only the latest sign of Piastri’s potential in Formula 1 after an excellent rookie year for McLaren. The 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup champion also showed real promise at the British GP once he received McLaren’s upgrades.

McLaren started the year with one of the slowest cars on the grid but delivered a brilliant B-spec car. The upgrades allowed Piastri to qualify in P3 at Silverstone before then challenging Verstappen for P2 on the opening lap. He could have claimed a podium but for a safety car.

The late safety car period let Mercedes hand Lewis Hamilton a cheap pit stop and snatch P3 at Silverstone. But Piastri’s first podium finish finally arrived at the Japanese GP and former Toyota driver, Glock, believes it suggests the McLaren rookie could be a future F1 champion.

“When it comes to Oscar Piastri, one must of course be full of praise,” Glock professed in his column for Sky Germany. “He is doing excellently in his rookie season.

“It’s clear that he’s still behind teammate Lando Norris in the race. But if he continues like this, he’ll be putting himself in position to become one of those who could one day become [a] world champion.

“In Norris, he now has a very good team partner with whom he can compete and where you can see that there is still room for improvement when it comes to race pace. Everything is possible with him.”